> Faster than Node.js + Express? Absolutely, yes. Take a newbie and ask them to create a web page using express, then ask them to try in PHP. They are worlds a

> Faster than Node.js + Express? Absolutely, yes. Take a newbie and ask them to create a web page using express, then ask them to try in PHP. They are worlds apart in terms of usability and approachability. (I say this as someone who almost exclusively writes in node these days) > it was just the only accessible platform around and happened to be crappy. How can it be crappy if it's the only accessible platform around? An alternative view point is that PHP is the best, most empowering platform, because it's accessible to newcomers, and every other language is crappy in comparison because they have failed to match PHP's accessibility. > Appeal to popularity, not a valid argument. Says nothing about language quality. You seem to be talking about PHP the language. There is no doubt that PHP the language is flawed. That is totally irrelevant. What matters is how effective PHP the ecosystem is, and it is undeniably incredibly effective. That's why people use it, because it is a practical way to get things done. So, if we're talking about PHP the ecosystem, then popularity is absolutely a valid metric here. It's easy to hire for, has tons of libraries etc, this stuff matters a lot more than the associativity of the ternary operator.